"This is such a great event -- so many of Houston's best chefs all in one place!" said Matthew Lovelace, a sous chef at Osteria Mazzantini, as he offered me a sample of their Blackhill Meats lamb meatball and chicken liver mousse. His was one of the first booths I encountered at the 2nd Annual Big Taste of Houston this weekend at The Corinthian, a premier food event and charity fundraiser for the Houston chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Indeed, though the inaugural event last year was fantastic, the lineup of chefs and restaurants this year was quite amazing. "I felt like the entrants this year were much stronger than last year," said celebrity judge and blogger Adam Goldberg (Twitter: @LifeWorthEating). For the second year in a row, Goldberg had flown in from New York City to take part in the event, live-tweeting each dish (check out his awesome Twitter feed!) as it was presented at the judge's table for all the world to see.

In all, 21 participating chefs and restaurants, and six dessert spots provided samplings to a throng of approximately 500 attendees. Spirits were high amid free flowing libations from sponsors Don Julio Tequila, Dripping Springs Vodka, Pisco Porton, Becker Vineyards, and Evamor Water, while a live band belted out booty-bopping tunes, like Barry White's "Can't get enough of your love, babe."

I was impressed with many of this year's entrants, including chef Donald Chang's Nara, whose spicy pork jowl buns -- one of the restaurant's specialties -- were a big hit with attendees. Both times that I visited their booth I overheard people coming up to say "Someone told me I had to come here for these."

Chef Adison Lee of the brand new KUU in Memorial City was another highlight, offering two tastings of his restaurant's signature dishes -- a beautiful "Kanpacchio" made of kanpachi, orange, pickled grape, with pickled shallot and yuzu garlic soy; and a citrus cured fluke with edamame puree and kale chip.

Truluck's Danny Kievit was painstakingly pan-searing whole u-10 scallops a la minute -- the just-seared beauties were served over a sauce of tomato butter. El Big Bad, whose table was adorned with an ice sculpture of their big bad wolf logo, offered deliciously refreshing barramundi fish in a citrusy leche de tigre, alongside a barbacoa tostadita with smoked crema and flash-fried sweet potato.

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